Pool and billiard cue.



B. T. WEIDMAN.

PooL AND BILLIARD GUE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 17, 1912.

Patented Oct. 22; 1912.

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E. T. WEIDMAN.

POOL AND BILLIARD CUE.

APPLICATION FILED PEB. 17, 1912,

Patented Oct. 22, 1912.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 22, 1912.

Application filed February 17, 1912. Serial No. 678,186.

To all 'whom t may concern.:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN T. WEID- MAN, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Ellsworth, in the county of Ellsworth and State ofKansas, have invented new and useful Improvements in Pool and BilliardCues, of which the following is a specification.

An object of the invention is to provide a cue for use in playingpool,billiards or other games of a similar nature.

The invention embodies among other features a device which can bepositioned to accurately strike the cue ball in the proper place, thestriking of the cue ball by the cue being accomplished .without movingthe body of the cue.

In the use of the cues now generally used in pool or billiards, the bodyend of the cue is generally grasped in the right hand and the forwardend of the cue is permitted to slide over a bridge formed by the lefthand, the left hand being placed upon the table in the rear of the cueball with the cue in alinement therewith, after which a sudden forwardmovement is given to the cue by swinging the right arm so that the tipof the cue will strike the ball and propel the same. In operating a cuein this manner,- however, the operators aim is ofttimes misdirected whenthe right arm is swung to operate the cue and in order to overcome thisdeficiency and provide a cue that can be eiiiciently operated, I employa cue which when positioned on the table, upon a bridge formed by thehand, can be accurately aimed and in which when the tip of the cuestrikes the cue ball, the cue body will remain st-ationary.

In the further disclosure of the invention, reference is to be had tothe accompanying drawings constituting a part of this specification, inwhich similar characters of reference denote corresponding parts in allthe views, and in which Figure 1 is a fragmentary vertical sectionalview of the cue. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on theline 2 2 in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on theline 3 3 in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an end view. Fig. 5 is a transversesectional view taken on the line 5 5 in Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a transversesectional view taken on the line 6 6 in Fig. 1.

Referring more particularly to the views, I employ a cue body 10comprising a forward vsection 11 and a rear section 12, t-he forwardsection 11 being threadedly connected to the rear section 12 at thepoint 13. Mounted in the front end of the forward section 11 is a casing14 in which is slidably mounted a plunger 15 provided on the outer endthereof with a tip 16, a sleeve 17 preferably made of rubber, beingmounted to encircle the front end of the forward section 11 to cover thefront edges of the casing 14 and the forward section 11. Secured to therear end of the plunger 15 and extending rearwardly to slide in apassage 18 is a rod 19 having the rear end thereof rigidly secured to acircular plate 20 slidably mounted in a casing 21, one half of whichextends into the forward section 11 from the rear end thereof and theother half of which extends into the rear section 12 from the front endthereof as shown, said casing being arranged at t-he pointof connectionof the forward and rear sections and having mounted therein anexpansible helical spring 22 arranged to encircle the forward end of arod 23 secured to the rear side of the plate 20 and mounted to slidablyextend through an opening 24 in a cushion plate 25, secured within therear end of the casing 21, the spring 22 being arranged with the frontend thereof abutting against the plate 2O and the rear end thereofabutting against t-he cushion plate 25. The rod 23 extends rearwardly toslidably pass through a passage 2G, formed in the rear section 12 andhingedly connected to the rear end of the rod 26 is a rack bar 27, theunder side of the said bar being provided with teeth 28.

A casing 29 is mounted to extend into the rear section 12 from the buttend thereof and journaled in the said casing is a shaft 30 on which iskeyed a semi-toothed wheel 31, the rack bar 27 being mounted to extendrearwardly over the semi-toothed wheel 31 with the teeth 23 of therackbar adapted to be engaged by the teeth on the semi-toothed wheel 31.Formed on the semi-toothed wheel 31 adjacent one end of the teeththereon is a lifting cam 32, said lifting cam being adapted to engagethe rack bar 27 to move the teeth 28 thereof out of engagement with theteeth on the semi-toothed wheel 31 as will be hereinafter more fullydisclosed.

A toothed wheel 33 is keyed to the shaft 30 and mounted to extendtransversely to the rear section 12, in the casing 29, is a rack bar 34the teeth of which mesh with the teeth of the wheel 33, an end of thesaid rack bar being extended outwardly through an opening in the casing29 to the outside of the rear section 12, a suitable knob 35 beingsecured to the outer end of the mentioned rack bar. A torsion spring 36has an end thereof secured to the casing 29 and the mentioned spring ismounted to loosely encircle a portion of the shaft 30 with the other endof the spring secured to the semitoothed wheel 31 as shown.

The tip 1G of the plunger 15 is arranged to extend a slight distancebeyond the front end of the forward section 11 and when the. tip is inthis position a port-ion of the rack bar 34 will extend outwardly adistance from the rear section 12, the knob 35 being spaced from therear section. Now when it is desired to strike the cue ball, the deviceis positioned with the forward section 11 reposing upon a bridge formedby the left hand, mounted upon t-he table and the rear end of the rearsection 12, adjacent the butt end of the section is grasped in the righthand with the thumb of theI right hand reposing upon the knob 35. Now bypressing downwardly upon the knob, the teeth of the wheel 33 will impartrotation to the shaft 3() thus rotating the semi-toothed wheel 31,against the torsional action of the spring 36 and the teeth of thesemi-toothed wheel 31, engaging the teeth on the rack bar 27 will movethe rack bar rearwardly in the section 12 thus compressing the spring 22and moving the tip 16 within the casing 11i. The pressure on the knob 35is continued until the knob 35 almost touches the rear sect-ion and whenthe knob reaches this position, the spring 22 will be. compressed to itsfull extent, the plunger 15 being now in its rearmost position in thecasing 14. rIhe cue is now aimed in the usual manner and when the cuehas been properly positioned so that the tip 16 will strike the cue ballat the def sired spot, an added pressure is exerted on the knob 35 tomove the same within the plane of the outer surface of the rear sectionand as the semi-toothed wheel has revolved almost a half turn, at themoment that the knob 35 is pressed inwardly as mentioned, the cam 32will engage the rack bar 27 thus lifting the same to disengage the teeth28 thereof from the teeth on the semi-toothed wheel 31, thus freeing therack bar 27 from the toothed wheel 31 so that the full pressure of thespring 22 can be freely exerted against the plate 2O thus through themedium of the rod 19, imparting a forward mot-ion to the plunger tocause the tip 16 to move outwardly from the front end of the forwardsection and strike the cue ball.

'By referring to the figures, it will be seen that the teeth on thesemi-toothed wheel 31 extend upwardly and the teeth 28 of the rack bar27 extend rearwardly and at the moment the tip 16 has struck the cueball, the pressure on the knob 35 is released and the torsional actionof the spring 36 will reverse the rotation of the semi-toothed wheel 31and the teeth of the semi-toothed wheel 31 will ride over the rearmosttooth of the teeth 23 of the rack bar 27, said rack bar being now in itsoutermost position. As the rotation of the semi-toothed wheel 31 isreversed, the rotation of the toothed wheel 33 will also be reversed andthe teeth of the wheel 33 meshing with the teeth of the rack bar 34 willimpart an outward movement to the rack bar to move the upper portion ofthe rack bar upwardly from the rear section to return the rack bar toits initial po.- sition, it being understood that the rack 27 is ininitial position when the rack bar is in its outermost position with thelast tooth of the rack bar engaging the first tooth of the wheel 31. Itwill now be seen that the various parts of the device are in initialposition, this position being the same as when the cue was first placedin position for striking the cue ball so that by repeating the operationdescribed with the ball, the tip 16 will again' be moved within thecasing 14 to prepare for a second shot. As'mentioned heretofore, thecasing 29 is mounted within the rear section 12 at the butt end of thesection and in order to give the cue a neat appearance, a cap 37 isthreadedly engaged with the rear end of the casing 19 to close the buttend of the cue.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the cue describedcan be placed in position, aimed and operated so that the 'tip 16 willstrike the cue ball without imparting a pushing or sliding movement tothe body of t-he cue and with a cue of this kind it will be readilyapparent that the aim of the operator is not destroyed as is the casewith the cue now generally used, in which the entire cue must be movedforwardly so that the tip thereof will strike the cue ball.

I claim 1. In a device of the class described, the combination with acue body, of a plunger slidably mounted therein, a tip secured to thesaid plunger and movable therewith to extend beyond the forward end ofthe cue body, and a spring engaged rack and pinion mechanism mounted inthe said cue body and connected with the said plunger for moving thesaid plunger inwardly in the said cue body and then releasing the sameto move outwardly so that the said tip will extend beyond the forwardend of the cue body.

2. In a device of the class described, the combination with a cue body,of a plunger slidably mounted in the cue body, and a spring engaged rackand pinion mechanism mounted in the said cue body and connected to thesaid plunger for moving the said plunger inwardly in the said cue bodyand then releasing the same.

3. ln a device of the class described, the combination with a cue body,of a plunger' mounted to slide therein, a tip on the said plunger andmovable therewith to extend beyond the forward end of the cue body, andspring engaged means for moving the said plunger rearwardly in the saidcue body and then releasing the same.

et. ln a device of the class described, the combination with a cue body,of a plunger mounted to slide in the forward end thereof, a rodextending rearwardly from the said plunger, a plate secured to the rearend of the said rod, an expansible spring mounted in the said cue bodyand engaging the said plate to move the said rod forwardly in the cuebody, a second rod connected to the said plate and extending rearwardlyin the cue body, an operating knob and means connecting said operatingknob with said second mentioned rod for operating the said plunger whenthe said knob is operated.

5. In a device of the class described the combination with a cue body,of a plunger slidably mounted therein, a tip secured to the said plungerand movable therewith to extend beyond the front end of the cue body, anactuating knob and rack and pinion means connecting said plunger withsaid actuating knob for moving said plunger relatively to said cue bodywhen said actuating knob is operated.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

BENJAMN T. WEIDMAN.

Witnesses:

J. W. RownLL, C. W. MILLER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

